Destined for Disaster ✔️

Chapter 2

"What is it?" Ellis asked, glimpsing over his shoulder. He halted and turned around. "Austin?"

People flocked by on either side of him, shooting him and Austin nasty glances and muttering under their breath. He shot them a scorching glare and they cast their gazes down, shuffling onwards quietly.

If Austin had heard him, he gave no indication of it. He was standing inert, his face tilted slightly upwards, searching.

"I must request you to keep walking," a guard said, approaching them and gesturing with stiff movements to the others, who were already trailing up the stairs to the second level.

"Give him a moment," Ellis said.

A tremor surged through Austin and he staggered into movement, snapping the attention of both Ellis and the guard towards him.

"It is strictly prohibited to stray from the group," the guard said. "If your companion has located someone of importance to him, I advise him to remember the cell number and to take it up with the people outside."

"How can he remember the cell number when he hasn't found her yet? We only need a minute." He made sure to give the guard an apologetic smile, but his eyes shimmered in unspoken threat. When it came to fate, he wasn't giving way for anyone.

"I really have to insist –"

"Insist in a minute." Ellis spun around and went in pursuit of Austin, who had wandered to the back of the space and was now standing in front of one of the cells, still utterly oblivious to any and all outside influences. "What's going on?" he asked, more to see if Austin would register his presence rather than because he wanted an answer. With the way Austin was acting, Ellis already knew.

Austin's skin was an ashy white and his hands were trembling, his gaze unceasingly fixed on the cell in front of him – or rather on the wolf within it. An urgent pressure crept up his throat and he released his breath.

Ellis placed a hand on Austin's arm. "Is this her?" 

Austin blinked – slowly, unsurely. He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut again, lightly shaking his head.

In the twilight that shrouded the room, Austin couldn't make out any detail. All he could see was the wolf's form, and two bright, honeycomb eyes glaring back at him. His breath caught in his throat, which was the only thing reminding him to breathe at all. His automatic functions had all shut down and simple tasks like blinking and breathing needed an amount of conscious attention that he was not then capable of providing.

The wolf was huddled in the far right corner of her cell, half hidden behind the low bed stretched alongside the wall. He stepped closer, his body moving without his mind giving the command. A low grumbling sound erupted from the shadowy figure and he stopped.

Some part of his mind that, surprisingly, still functioned told him he should say something, do something, but he just stood there and stared. And the wolf, in turn, only stared at him.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped, reality crashing down on him with a weight that nearly made his knees buckle.

"Austin," Ellis said. Austin's eyes strayed to him for a fleeting second before his gaze was drawn back to the wolf on the other side of the bars. He made a weak gesture in her general direction, hoping that the motion would convey everything he didn't know how to say.

"This is her, then?" Ellis said. "Your mate?"

Your mate. He had a mate. A fated mate.

Ellis waved a hand in front of Austin's face. "Do you hear me?"